Ameritrade Stumbles
In Pursuing Web Turf

By

Rebecca Buckman Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Oct. 26, 1998 12:01 a.m. ET

To prosper in the fast-paced field of Internet stock trading, some traditional brokerage houses have had to reinvent themselves as technology companies, schooling themselves in the ways of the Web to keep up with nimbler, younger competitors.

It's a lesson Ameritrade Holding has learned the hard way.

For six months, the 23-year old Omaha, Neb., brokerage firm has been struggling to solve nagging technical problems related to...